Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Listening guide
What’s the best gift you gave this Christmas? ___________________
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Mt 2:1-2)
____________ is a ______ part of life.
“King Herod heard (that there was a new born king of the Jews), he was disturbed and all Jerusalem was disturbed with him”. (Mt 2:3)
“overjoyed” = “they rejoiced an exceedingly great excessive joy.”
So your ___________ feels ______.
“They saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They returned home.” (Mt 2:11-12)
Because it (your heart) is ________.
Let’s give great gifts this year.
Discussion questions
Notes
Depending on the number of people discussing, it may be easier to split into same gender groups.
You will not have time to discuss all the questions. Discuss those that interest you.
Getting talking
What was the best gift you gave this Christmas?
Is it easy for you to give gifts? Why or why not?
This week’s discussion questions
I feel confident of my adoption as God’s son/daughter and rarely, if ever, question his acceptance of me. 1 2 3 4
I love to worship God by myself as well as with others. 1 2 3 4
I spend regular quality time in the Word of God and in prayer. 1 2 3 4
I sense the unique ways God has gifted me individually and am actively using my spiritual gifts for his service. 1 2 3 4
I am a vital participant in a community with other believers. 1 2 3 4
It is clear that my money, gifts, time, and abilities are completely at God’s disposal and not my own. 1 2 3 4
I consistently integrate my faith in the marketplace and the world. 1 2 3 4
TOTAL ______
Name: ________________________________________
Date completed: _____________________________
Goals last until: ______________________________
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Strengths of my life enjoying God's grace | Weaknesses of my life enjoying God's grace |
| Opportunities | Threats |
| Opportunities to enjoy God's grace more or differently | Threats to my enjoyment of God's grace |
Two or three opportunities or strengths of my life in God’s grace that I can build on for the next 3-6 months are _____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
One weakness of my life in God’s grace that I can work on for the next 3-6 months is
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Wrap up
How have you seen God at work in your life lately?
What has God been teaching you in his Word?
What’s an area of your life where you need to repent or grow? How can we encourage you?
What kind of conversations are you having with non-Christians? How can we encourage and help you?
What good can we do around here?
How can we pray for you and others?
Sermon
What’s the best gift you gave this Christmas? ___________________
I don’t want you to share the best gift you got. What’s the best gift you gave someone else this Christmas?
Share with someone in the row ahead of you. If you are in the front row, you can walk all the way to the back, or you can just turn around.
I think I kind of stunk this year on gift giving. I don’t know why. I think I was a little bit in a daze or a stupor this year.
Some years, I’ve killed it. Some years, I really paid attention to my wife and kids over the year. When I’m on the ball, I keep a list of things they say they want, and then voila, Christmas Day I can surprise them with this awesome gift. This year I kind of had a one track mind. I really wanted to get my kids a BB gun. And when that didn’t happen, I kind of shut down. What’s the best gift you gave this Christmas?
If you get Christmas, then you can give great gifts. Men, you listen to this. Just because you are a guy doesn’t mean you are cursed to be a bad gift giver. You too can give great gifts.
That’s what Christmas means. That’s what Christmas does. The birth of Jesus is this incredible gift. He is literally the cradle that rocked the world. And this child Jesus, the Son of God, is a gift for you to experience. You can actually live and know and taste and feel life like a son of God himself.
What that does is, it changes your religion.
If people talk about religion at all, we say this: “I switched to the Lutheran religion.” I always chuckle a little. They aren’t using the word correctly. They mean the Lutheran denomination or the Lutheran confession. I switched to the Lutheran confession. But I know what they mean.
And they’re saying way more than I think they know they are saying. They are saying, I found some new beliefs and new desires and new symbols, and that changed my life. Reoriented my life. That’s what the Bible says.
James says, religion that is good to look after orphans and widows in their distress. Paul says, religion should look like this, children and grandchildren of a widow should care for their own family.
I bet most of us know this verse. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35
Christmas reorients your religion. This is what happens when you stop believing “If I’m good, God will forgive me and accept me and love.” This is what happens when you get your religion right.
Let’s discover what God does when we get religion right.
Part 1
That’s what this lesson of the Magi gets at. Matthew starts and tells us, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (Mt 2:1-2)
What we’ve got here is the first marks of religion. These wise men have come from Persia, maybe Babylon. They've got this belief.
Their belief is this. “A king has been born.” This is a belief. It’s like saying, “God exists.” It can’t be absolutely proven. It can be demonstrated to be reasonably true. Some people think that kings and queens are made. Caesar Augustus is a good example of a king that was made. Napoleon Bonaparte is another one. King Herod is a good example of this. Other people think kings are born. Queen Victoria of England, Charlemagne. King Frederich 2 of Prussia. They have this belief. They also have a desire.
What is it? “We have come to worship him.” Remember that scene from Star Wars: A New Hope when the Ewoks suddenly begin chanting and bowing down to C3P0? What does religion look like? It looks like worship. It’s a public profession that this person, thing, or nonphysical being is our highest value, our highest good.
And religion has a specific form. Remember what the Ewoks do? They put him on a throne. They are going to burn a sacrifice to him. These wise men, they follow a star. They ask the Jewish religious leaders to check their scriptures. They’ve brought gifts.
The wise men are some smart guys. They are the knowledge elite. They are the intellectuals of the ancient times. They were the experts. And they are practicing a religion.
As recently as 50 years ago, people would have looked at these wise men and said, “Oh, those antiquated wise men. No one relies on the stars anymore. Johannes Kepler told us science is better.” Carl Sagan said it famously, “The universe is all that is or ever was or ever will be.”
50 years later, Chani Nicholas, an astrologer based in Los Angeles says this. “Then there’s something that’s happened in the last five years that’s given (astrology) an edginess, a relevance for this time and place, that it hasn’t had for a good 35 years. Millennials have taken it and run with it.” (https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-new-age-of-astrology/550034/, accessed 1/3/2020). Look at us!
It’s really easy right now to say, “I don’t see the need for religion.” “I don’t see the need for church”. There is this belief, we’re going to do it better or faster or smarter than our parents. We understand sexuality. We understand self-esteem. We understand forgiveness. We understand family systems. We’re going to do it better than our parents.
We might do it better than our parents. I’m not sure if that’s because we’re better or faster or smarter than them.
If you only attach yourself to the time where you are, the only thing you are is timely. If you want to be a person who is always relevant, you’ve got to be timeless
One of the things that means is the public expression of beliefs and desires in physicals signs is a real part of life. Religion is a real part of life.
Part 2: Purpose
What’s it for then?
One of the major reasons people have given in the last 100 years for religion is right here. It’s kind of hidden, so let’s look at it.
The next verse, verse 3, Matthew says, “King Herod heard (that there was a new born king of the Jews), he was disturbed and all Jerusalem was disturbed with him”. That doesn’t sound very happy, does it? This speaks directly to one of the reasons people give for religion.
Something people say frequently, and you’ve probably heard it too, goes like this. “If God really existed and cared, what about all the homeless people? Or what about the hurricanes? Or what about earthquakes?” What’s the assumption there?
The assumption there is that God and religion should make the world a better place.
For example an economist and professor at George Mason University named Tyler says that he would like the serious religion of Utah to spread to other parts of the country because Utah experiences a lot less drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and broken families. What’s his reason for religion? It makes the world a better place.
Sometimes we even say, I come to church because I want my kids to have that moral instruction. Or we’ll simply say, it makes me a better person. Look, I appreciate you say that. That’s really nice. Really, it is.
That’s not what brought the magi to their king.
Here is what God says through Matthew. "Herod called together the people’s chief priests and the teachers of the law and he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.” And they said, “Bethlehem in Judea” the prophets wrote. (Mt 2:4-6) What brought the magi to Jesus? Not a better life. Not happiness. Not even a star. The pageants always get this wrong. What took the wise men to Jesus?
Herod missed it. After the wise men deceived him, he thought he could fix the situation. His religion came entirely out of his own heart and mind. All he cared about was not eternal good, but the approval and the acceptance of Caesar. If only I do good, then Caesar my god will accept me, he said.
The Jewish religious leaders missed it too. Did you catch that? These intellectual elites come from the east and say, “We’re looking for the chosen Savior.” And they say, “he is over there. Bye bye.” They ignore him! They don’t care. They think they’re safe. They think they’re good. They believe, “if there is a God, he certainly accepts me and forgives me and approves of me.”
This is Matthew’s whole point. The wisdom of the world will only take you so far. What finishes your religion? The Word of God. They get a Word from the Scriptures.
They follow that Word. The star goes ahead of them. They were “overjoyed”. What Matthew really says is, they were giddy like a bunch of children on Christmas Day saying, “Wake up dad, wake up, it’s Christmas.” Really! That is what mine says. Actually what he really says is, “they rejoiced an exceedingly great excessive joy.” Honestly. They’re giddy like a bunch of kids on Christmas morning. That’s what religion does.
If you are a person who has come to church so your kids get their moral instruction or so the world is a better place, that’s a start. Thank you. Thank you for being here. That’s a great place to start. At some point, it has to switch to this.
There is something wrong with you. And what God wants to do is heal your heart. He wants to bring you the same inexpressible, exuberant joy that these elites found in Jesus. He wants to bring you the same inexpressible, exuberant joy children know on Christmas. That’s what God wants. He wants your heart to feel joy.
Point 2: So your heart feels joy.
Part 3
How? That’s the last thing, and it is so incredible.
“they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They returned home.” (Mt 2:11-12)
I want you to think about the last one to three year old you had around. How did you want to treat it?
I want to wrestle my older son. Man that kid. Snuggle and hug and kiss my younger one. You probably wanted to give them presents. If you were lucky, they said thank you for the presents. Maybe. An hour later they asked for more presents. Basically as soon as they were gone. Then they asked if you could go to the store and buy some more presents.
Did any of you want to worship the last two year old you saw?
This child filled the hearts of those elites. He accepted them. He received their gifts offered in faith with thanks and sincerity. He let them come to him. And it didn’t matter that they were astrologers. He didn’t reject them because they had worshipped false gods before. He accepted them.
And then he sent them home.
I’m sure they could have stayed for years, loved him, and followed him. But they worshipped and they left. He didn’t take anything else.
This is it. This is the only thing in all of creation that you can make the center of your life and you will be completely satisfied, happy, and content. Why? Because he has made you the center of his life.
Religion always says, you try hard and work hard and God will accept you. Maybe then you can be happy and go back to your life.
The gospel always says, God has worked hard and tried hard. He forgives you and accepts you and sends you on your way.
And I want to invite you to just accept this and let it change your whole life.
The best gift I saw given this year, and I might be bias a little bit, was my son. Don’t tell him I’m telling you this, but its too cute to not share.
My son went with my wife and his siblings to shop for Christmas presents. He came back all excited about the gift he got for me. Christmas Day I opened his present. It was a cap gun! Pretty cool, I thought. I haven’t had a cap gun in like 25 years.
He says, dad, dad, let’s go try it! I try to explain to him we can’t, we have to go buy caps first.
He tries the cap gun first.
He stores the gun in his gun collection.
He puts it in his backpack to take to grandpa and grandmas.
And when we get home, he keeps it.
That's what God says to you, in a much bigger way
-you want to give me your best money and gifts. You give it away to someone else. I’ve given you the best gift ever, my son.
-you want to accept me and approve of me. You give it away to someone else. I accept you in Jesus for eternity.
-you want to give me your love? You give it away to someone else. I love you more than life itself.
Religion is a real part of your life so your heart feels joy because its full.
Action
Let’s give great gifts this year
I’m incredibly thankful and grateful right now. We had a great year last year financially. You are truly generous.
Keep the gun, give it to someone else.
The wonder of Christmas, then, is that pagan astrologer magician-types are transformed to worship the incarnate Son of God because of the ancient words.